Student dies after choking at pancake-eating contest

HARTFORD, Conn. — A college student whose father was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States has died after choking during a pancake-eating contest.

Police said 20-year-old Caitlin Nelson died at a New York City hospital on Sunday, three days after participating in the contest at Sacred Heart University.

She was from Clark, N.J., and was a junior majoring in social work at the Roman Catholic school in Fairfield.

“It’s a tragic event that started out as something fun,” said Fairfield police Lieutenant Bob Kalamaras. “It was just a tragic accident.”

When Nelson started choking at the contest, two nursing students who were there immediately began life-saving measures and were quickly joined by police officers and paramedics, Kalamaras said. She was taken to a hospital in Bridgeport in critical but stable condition and transferred Friday to New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center.

Several thousand people gathered on the Sacred Heart campus Sunday night to remember Nelson, a member of the Kappa Delta sorority, and share their grief.

A mass dedicated to her was followed by an impromptu candlelight vigil.

Nelson’s father, James Nelson, was a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police officer killed in the Sept. 11 attacks in Manhattan. The 40-year-old was killed while trying to rescue people trapped in the World Trade Center. His obituary said he was survived by two daughters, 11-year-old Anne and five-year-old Caitlin.

School officials said counselling services were being provided.